Friday, July 20, 2012

SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE OF AMISH/MENNONITE COUNTRY

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First order of business this morning was to have my stitches from last Friday's minor surgery taken out so it was off to the Medical Clinic in Goderich. Bike or Jeep, Jeep or Bike.....took the Jeep. Expected people to be ahead of me but I was the only there. Another examining room, another sunny side up lay down on a paper draped table bed. Snip, snip, snip, yank, yank, yank, & ouch, ouch, ouch. That was it & I was out the door in about 10 minutes. Now, with a bit of luck, that should be the last of my ' medical ouchies' for the summer.

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Kelly had spotted a couple more rural properties so figured I would head off & see if I could find them this morning. They of course were financially beyond us but any excuse I can find to head out on a country drive I will take. Unfortunately, Real Estate has remained high here in Canada & our area is no exception. Found the first 3.5 acre property with an unfinished cottage/house no problem. Three quarters of the property was a Maple & Cedar forest on a quiet country road with no visible neighbors. Now how nice is that. A perfect place for a handyman & outdoors person. Well, I have the outdoors interest alright, but I'm no darn handyman. This property was located about 20 minutes south of Kincardine Ontario.

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THIS SETTING WOULD HAVE BEEN JUST ABOUT RIGHT FOR US…… IF ONLY I WAS A SKILLED HANDYMAN

Second piece of property I found about 40 minutes later right smack dab in the middle of Amish/Mennonite country.  This house & property were located in a little country crossroads bit of a place called, St. Helens. Very scenic, very peaceful, but of course, very pricey. No matter though because how nice this morning to see all the neat as a pin farms alongside fields of harvested & stooked golden wheat. Tall waving green corn stalks marched from farm to farm over hill & dale.  So nice to see quiet country roads wandering like sinewy yellow gray ribbons through forests & fields over creeks & rivers. I stopped half a dozen times to take photos & each time the only thing I heard beside the rustling breeze in the trees were homey barnyard sounds coming from near & distant farms. I could hear chickens, the laughter & squeals of children at play, & the clink & clank of farm machinery being attended to. Horses & cows lazily grazed along wooden fence lines. Billy Goats in some fields, sheep in others. A big smiley wave from a couple young fellas going hastily by in their horse drawn buggy.  One lad clutching tightly to his straw hat told me the boys had some speed up. Yes, truly another marvellous few hours spent in one of my favorite outside homes away from home:))

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THE LADS WERE CLIPPING RIGHT ALONG

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And commenter Martha asked, ‘I have a question about the picture of the hay field. Do the Mennonites not bail hay? They look like little stacks of hay’.  Now, I’m going to take a big chance on getting this right.  You might have to help me out here ED.  When grass is cut it has a greenish color & is called hay which is what cattle feed on.  When crops like wheat, oats, & barley are cut, it is what is left over in the field after the grains have been separated that is called straw & that is used for animal bedding.  Both hay & straw can be baled or can be stacked into stooks.  Bales can be round or rectangular.  All of these golden stooks in yesterday & today’s photos come from grain crops, therefore it is straw.  I believe that to be wheat in the photo below.  Oh, & Scarecrow from the Wizard Of Oz was filled with straw as well. (I checked that one on the internet:))

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EACH  SHEAVE OF WHEAT IS BOUND WITH BINDER TWINE & STACKED TO MAKE A STOOK…I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THE WHEAT IS CUT OR HOW THE GRAINS ARE SEPARATED FROM THE STOCKS USING THIS METHOD

On my way home today I couldn't help but once again make some comparisons. Just as in many of the quiet desert areas we prefer in the south-west, I feel at ease in our rural countryside here in Ontario. Kelly feels much the same way & that is why we have concentrated our ‘some day’ real estate search efforts rurally. Most folks like to live close to other folks but our preference is to be further away from all that & closer to nature. Times change, interests shift, & after 7 adventuress years spent living in the country over a decade ago, we both have a definite desire to return to that preferable way of life some day:))

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LARGE ROUND STRAW BALES MADE BY A MACHINE & SMALLER STOOKS STACKED BY HAND

In the latest issue of ONE-MINUTE ASTRONOMER I especially liked the last line in the current topic, 'The Constellation Sagittarius.' The line is....." Just find a good reclining chair, some dark sky, and lie back and gaze at the frosty star fields of Sagittarius and imagine you’re flying along the plane of the Milky Way, unfettered by Earthy worries, going farther and faster and seeing things that few humans will ever see". It is the words, 'unfettered by Earthly worries' that leap off the page at me. Unfettered by Earthly worries……can you just imagine the peace, serenity & tranquility that must bring. And, I liked the line, 'how I have always dreamed of going farther and faster & seeing things that few humans will ever see'. If only, alas, if only it were more than a dream. If only I could bring myself to believe in the true reality of that. If only................Sick smile

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SNAGGED YOU A COUPLE WINDMILLS TODAY MIKE:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A busload of politicians were driving down a country road, when suddenly the bus ran off the road and crashed into an old farmer's barn. The old farmer got off his tractor and went to investigate. Soon he dug a hole and buried the politicians. A few days later, the local sheriff came out, saw the crashed bus and asked the old farmer where all the politicians had gone. The old farmer told him he had buried them.

The sheriff asked the old farmer, "Lordy, were they ALL dead?"

The old farmer said, "Well, some of them said they weren't, but you know how them crooked politicians lie."
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- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))

- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)

- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward


- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
stargeezerguy@gmail.com

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14 comments:

  1. The only problem with living out in the country is access to health care in an emergency. Guess I'm getting a little "Hospital" shy with all I've been through with Jim. Good luck on your search.

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  2. This use to be rural country..but the trains raising the decibels for their horns, and our street becoming a major thoroughway..I hate it and would sell this place (after37 years)...in a New York minute..

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  3. Luckily we seem to be in the country on our own little piece of heaven but we are only 4-5 clicks from town although we do seem rural. Good luck in your quest. Just like the pheebs the perfect place will come along at the perfect time

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  4. Luckily we seem to be in the country on our own little piece of heaven but we are only 4-5 clicks from town although we do seem rural. Good luck in your quest. Just like the pheebs the perfect place will come along at the perfect time

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  5. I remember grain being harvested like that when I was a kid. (In Nebr.) The grain was cut and tied into bundles by a machine called a binder. A few of those bundles were stood up together into what you call stooks and we called shocks. When the grain was good and dry the shocks were pitched onto a hay rack (wagon) and hauled to the threshing machine where the grain was separated from the straw. Hot, dirty, laborious work for all concerned. I'm glad it's only a memory.

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  6. We live in a place that is much like the trails of a National Forest. We are only minutes away from a major highway, but cannot see or hear it. If this place were 1000 Square feet and not worth what it is I would want to keep it forever. But selling it is key to spending a few years full timing. Just can't see having both.

    Your place in Bayfield seems perfect to me. Why do you want to sell it? Seems like a place you can safely leave for six months a year while down in Az.

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  7. I like your groaner. Could you send that old farmer down our way?

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  8. nothing like those perfect bales of hay..or stacks of straw!..nice photos!..I have always been intrigued with the Amish/Mennonite communities!

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  9. I do love and appreciate the WINDMILL's my friend......The one taken at dusk or near darkness took my eye........I had to check it out "up close"....
    Thanks Bud!

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  10. Even if you find nothing it is always fun looking and dreaming. And you get to explore more beautiful areas of southern Ontario.

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  11. Perfect groaner for our political climate at the present time!!

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  12. QuiltinLibraryLady said everything that I might have had to offer on the subject.

    The only thing I might quibble about is calling it straw while the grain head is still attached. I would say that the stooks/shocks were made up of bundled grain stalks (sheaves), but then again I might be wrong.

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  13. My husband and his brother worked with a threshing crew when they were 12 and 13 loading the stooks on the hay rack, then into the threshing machine. If the grain isn't dry before threshing when it is stored (in a granary)it can heat and rot.
    He agrees with edlfrey that it's not technically straw until after threshing.

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  14. Thanks for the information on the stacks of grain. I live in rice country and everything is done by combines. Years ago rice was handled like that, before my time thank goodness. I remember rice straw being bailed when we had more cows but not the feed of choice. Not as many herds of cattle now so fields are often burned.

    Mennonites are hard working people.

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